


Cosmic Barrier

by Shikhyth (Showert_ime)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU where their alliance is even closer and stronger, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Au where Keith got raised by his mother, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Eventual Romance, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, SHEITH - Freeform, Self-Discovery, Violence, i will add more as the story goes, well more like half galra but purple looking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-18 12:15:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16118252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Showert_ime/pseuds/Shikhyth
Summary: In which Keith only wants to learn more about his human heritage and finds his place in the universe -- and Shiro might have the answers.





	1. So we meet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! This fic will be chaptered because well.. I thought it could be short but it will definitely be above 10-15k. I just want to mention that the red paladin in this is Lance, since Keith never was part of it and the blue paladin is Allura. Else, just have fun reading!

“You did what?” Keith raises from his chair before Krolia can put a hand on his arm. 

Kolivan looks at him dead in the eyes, not even an ounce of remorse in his eyes. 

“I did what was needed for the Blade of Marmora to reach more people and gets support through the galaxy.” He says his eyes going from Keith to Krolia still sitting beside you. “I am sure your mother can explain to you why it is important to form alliances when we have reached a wall.”

His words are harsh and makes Keith feels like a child once more, which he doesn’t appreciate at all. “So you decided to make an alliance with Voltron even if it all started with these cursed beasts?” It is clear in his head that if Zarkon turned crazy with the black lion, the current paladins weren’t protected from their negative effect. Who knows how much quintessence was actually produced by these gigantic lion ships. 

“Better keep what can be dangerous beside us than behind us.” Says his mother suddenly, raising slowly from her chair to put her hand on her son’s shoulder. She is clearly trying to make them stop their fight, as they never truly get to something productive. “Now, isn’t the time to wonder about what has been done, we can only work with it and make the best out of it.”

The words are final and Keith doesn’t add anything, but he does move away from Kolivan and his mother without looking at them anymore. 

As he exits the room, his space wolf follows him out. He never is truly far behind him, always ready when needed. Having him by his side had made Keith into one of the most efficient fighter of the Blade of Marmora, not that Kolivan would ever admit it and take the chance to make the half human blooded cocky about it. 

His angry steps seem to make other members of the order step aside as he storms off to his own room. Everything they have been doing recently seems to get them closer to get revealed and he isn’t sure it is a good idea. What if they aren’t actually ready for it?

Once Keith gets into his room, he almost wishes he could slam the door close. But unlike the house his mother talked to him about on Earth, the place he was born, doors on their space station only slided close. 

“This is stupid, I heard that even if they have these huge weapons, most of them act like kids.” He mumbles as he throw himself on his bed. Very mature himself. 

Kosmo joins him on it, finding its place by his side. In fact, he isn’t sure why it annoys him as much. Because Kolivan didn’t truly asked around and took the decision by himself? 

Maybe. 

He wonders what the lions look like inside their immense Alteans ship. Or what does the paladins look like too. They don’t know much about them, only that one day Voltron reappeared with amateur paladins. 

“I guess we will see tomorrow.” Keith says as he gets up to walk to the bathroom. Without much ceremony, he undo his clothes, letting them fall from his purplish skin. 

Before he starts to run the water, his eyes find the mirror in front of him. It has become a ritual to look at all the scars kissing his skin. The most apparent one is the one on the right side of his face, creating a dark purplish mark. It almost looks like one of his mother’s face marks, but unlike her, he got it from a fuming blade. 

Maybe he should feel disgust at these, especially the irregular one on his hips. However, he knows getting them was worth it. 

That their cause is worth it.

He sighs, and turns around to finally get into the shower

***

In the end, it's his mother that gets him out of his room the next morning so he can meet the paladins. Keith still doesn't understand the appeal of revealing themselves when they spent so much time trying to stay hidden.

When they finally reach the hangar, is breath is taken away from him as he sees the lions. He heard a lot about them, but he weirdly thought they would be smaller. Less imposing, and the presence they give off is impressive to Keith, getting through his skin weirdly.

"See, I told you they could be of help." Says Krolia beside him, a hand on his shoulder as if to keep him from running. He would like to go eat breakfast, it's true.

"It isn't because they are huge that they can be of help, to me it just looks like they have a huge red flag screaming they are there." Which is only half true, he can feel the weird power coming from these weapons, however he isn't ready to admit it to the others after the scene he caused the day before.

"They will be useful, we need to find new allies to the Blades."

To that he just shrugs the hand away, annoyed. "Where are the precious paladins? Aren't these beasts useless without them?" A ship useless without his sole pilot, very not useful when someone die he thinks.

"They are behind you." Says Kolivan's voice near Keith's ear, which almost makes him jump. He mentally swears, he shouldn't be so unaware when he feels safe at their main base. First thing he should remember is that they are actually never truly safe.

Since the paladins are supposed to be behind him, Keith turns around mimicking his mother. So, there are five of these paladins it seems, 5 different colors but the same outfit, like the lions. The half Galra finds it stupid, what are they even with their bright colors. Everything about them scream "FIND ME" and this isn't what he calls useful.

However, what catches his attention is the color of their skin, their hair and the general appearance. His mouth opens in disbelief and he glances to the side at Krolia, but she doesn't return his glance.

The question is burning at the tip of his tongue, thrill filling him as Kolivan presents them. It's short and practical, like everything Kolivan does. However, Keith remembers one of the names at least, the one with the robotic arm.

Before they can leave to the castle, as they call it, to plan some kind of suicidal mission or something, Keith can’t help but open his mouth. "Hey, you, Shiro is it?" His feet brings him in front of the tall man, who looks back at him with surprise, the smile he offers him after seems so sincere it unsettle Keith for a moment. Not a lot of people smile like that no more here.

"Are you human? Are you all humans?" It bursts out of his mouth, and he can hear his mother sigh not too far from them.

The first surprise comes back into the leader's eyes, he seems genuinely confused. "You know humans?" There is a frown setting on his features.

Ah. Yes. He forgot most people were unaware of Earth as a planet, so far from them. Nobody truly ever got into contact with humans, well except his mother and some isolated cases like that. "Yeah, got some reason to learn about them once." Keith can feel Kolivan disapproving glare and the distrustful eyes of the other humans on him, this is also when he remembers that the tall girl is actually one of the two last Alteans.

"Oh, well..." Before Shiro can continue what he is saying, that girl, Allura he thinks? Step forward almost at the same time as Kolivan.

"If I may, you will probably find time later to have such a discussion, for now we should head to the castle. Time is short." She seems annoyed to be around them, it is in his eyes that he sees the most hatred toward them all.

"I agree, Keith." Is Kolivan's way to order him to stop this.

The black paladin does seems apologetic as he turns away from Keith and walks with the others. It pissed the member of the Blade off, especially when he hear the one dressed in red says "What is wrong with him?"

Krolia seems to want to say something, but before she can reach for her son. Keith storms away toward the hallway leading to the dorms. "I will go eat breakfast and train. Alone.

This alliance is shit.

***

A few days later, Keith hasn't seen the paladins again. It might be because he was actually avoiding them, but who knows really?

The plan still seems shitty to him, and Kolivan was truly doing his best for the half Galra to not have to encounter the pilots of the lions. He isn’t sure if it is because he doesn’t want Keith to ask about his human's lineage or if he doesn't want him to be able to criticize Voltron as a whole and make their alliance even more precarious.

No matter the reason, for once they were on the same wavelength which truly didn’t happen often nowadays. Everyone seemed used to see them bicker in the middle of meetings or missions. That had always been like this, ever since Keith got old enough to join in the Blades training.

Krolia didn’t say much to her son, mostly letting him deal with how he feels by himself. He was grateful to not be invaded on.

“Should we go train, Kosmo?” After a while, Keith got used to the name his fellow Blades had found for the cosmic wolf. With the animal in his steps, he starts walking toward the training grounds. He didn’t go all day since most of it was used for meetings and studying. 

Once he reaches his usual room, with fighting robots and moving grounds, Keith stops shortly. He can feel his ears move on the side of his head at the unfamiliar panting filling the room. The combat style is also unlike what he is used to, instinct written all over it more than actual technique. Someone that had to learn on the spot and in the moment, he thinks, not someone that actually had time to learn the basics. 

In the room, fighting against one of Keith’s favorite robotic fighter, is the Voltron’s leader. Raw strength emanates from him and fills the Galra with excitement. It makes him curious and he feel the need to test his skills against the other. Maybe that would also help him get his frustration about the alliance out. 

It takes him a second to deactivate the fight going on by snapping his fingers together, then he glances toward Kosmo, the wolf automatically pressing himself against his companion’s hand. Everything fades away around him, his feet leaving the actual ground he was on. 

When he reappears, it’s in the air above the black paladin, his knife out and aligned to hit the human’s head if he doesn’t react fast enough. To Keith’s pleasure, Shiro does react quickly raising his arm and defending himself against the sharp weapon that would have sliced through him. 

Shiro’s eyes are half scared and crazy for a second, until he seems to recognize the man that just attacked him. Keith wonders from where comes the scars that would lead to such emotions in the other’s eyes. 

His feet soon hit the floor, automatically taking a defensive stance. “Want a match, human?” Shiro does seem ready to fight back and defend himself, an unsure look on his face. “Friendly, obviously.” There is a smirk at the corner of his own mouth. 

The other seems to hesitate, and it takes a bit to long for Keith, who loses patience before he gets a real answer. “I’ll take the fact that you are still standing in front of me as a yes.” And he charges straight toward the human, and just before he can give a blow to the other’s chest, Keith disappears and reappears behind the other’s back. 

To Keith’s expectation, Shiro turns around just in time to avoid the huge cut that would have spread on his back. “I guess I don’t have a choice.” The paladin sounds mildly annoyed, but he doesn’t step back and instead force Keith to be the one moving backward as he charges toward him. 

They continue like this, attack, defend, teleport, charge, block for what feels like an eternity and a few minutes all at once. After a moment, it becomes a dance between both of them and Keith can say for the first time in a while that he is truly enjoying himself. The human is way better than he thought he would be, he seems to pick up on Keith’s patterns with Kosmo in a way most Blades still can’t, which is quite impressive. 

The arm too, it picks up the Galra’s attention. Because it does seem to be made of his people’s technologie and not from how Krolia depicted human’s one. 

By the end of it, they are both sweating, droplets rolling down their face and neck. Shiro looks way more at ease than he was at the beginning, even the shadow of a smile on his lips. 

“Shiro! We need to you to get some stuff on another planet!” The voice breaks off their battle, both of them stopping as they were launching for each other again. Keith glances toward the door, the same paladin wearing red he noticed on their first day here. He feels annoyed at the interruption.

“Ah, yeah.” Shiro nods, his voice panting a bit. “Sure, coming in a minute, Lance.” When he turns around toward Keith, it’s with a satisfied smile illuminating his features. “We should do this again.” He says has he turns around to follow the red paladin called Lance.

When they are gone, Keith feels eyes on him. He glances toward the examination deck, not surprised to see Kolivan disapproving glare on him. 

It makes him shrug as he walks toward the door and the exit. It isn’t like their leader can complain because he fought one of the paladins for some minutes.

Thinking about time, the Blade looks toward the digital hour on the wall of the training hall. 

“Oh.” Maybe 2 hours turned into a few minutes in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is already under construction hehe, it will also be longer. I would love to know what you thought of the first chapter and what you are looking forward to! Kudos are always a great motivation too <3
> 
> Twitter: @Shikhyth


	2. you can't hold me back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter! I am glad to be able to give it quickly after the first part ~ Hope you enjoy hehe

Following this, Keith had been sent on multiple expeditions, unable to talk to the humans again.

He figured out Kolivan was trying to hold him from talking too much to the paladins, which after a while confuses him. Why is he so adamant to hold him from doing so? After all he hadn’t talk badly about them since his fight with Shiro.

The galra groans deeply from his spot on the floor of his room. The cold sinks in his clothes and makes him shiver. Kosmo is laying down beside him, obviously sleeping and not caring about the internal turmoil of his partner. “I just have questions, what is so bad with questions?” He complains, pushing his face into the wolf’s fur to force him to react.

Which he actually doesn’t. It makes him rolls his eyes. 

“Want to go train?” 

Suddenly, Kosmo opens his eyes and gets up on his paws. Keith gives him a very unimpressed look knowing the wolf was basically ignoring him, until he proposed something that was interesting to him.

“And they think you don’t understand me.” Keith huffs and removes his regular clothes from his purple skin before putting on his Blade of Marmora uniform. It almost feels more like comfortable clothes to him than the rest, too used to have it against the expanse of his body.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the training ground, nobody should send him off anywhere for the day, so moving a bit will only make him think less. As he reaches his favorite spot, he notices the paladins in another one. There is the two girls, Allura and Pidge, plus the guy dressed in red, he can’t remember his name.

Seeing them is a surprise, as Keith thought they weren’t on the base at the moment. Or maybe someone told him that so he wouldn’t seek them. No matter the reason, he was misinformed. 

The only real fighter of the bunch seems to be the Altean, she moves fast and with strong movements. Assurance and concentration flows out of her being as she fight. She is way more interesting than the two others to watch train. 

Still, the green paladin seems to be agile with her own bayard, even if she shows her lack of experience each time one of the flying spheres hits her back. Keith thinks she could learn, her combat style would probably be more about avoiding and hitting at the right moment than full on fight.

On the other side, the red paladin seems to only rely on his ability to shoot. It isn’t bad, not really, but the blade knows you don’t always choose the way you have to fight, which mean knowing how to use more than one weapon and more than one way of fighting is important.

By looking at them, Keith almost feels deceived. He wishes to see the same strength in the other paladins that he had seen in the leader. And from what he can analyse quickly, Allura is the only one showing something similar, less raw, more trained, but strong. 

“We haven’t seen you around lately.” 

Keith felt someone coming close to him, but his eyes go round when he understands who it is. His head snaps on the side and he stares at Shiro for a moment. Wait, he realised he wasn’t here? “I guess you were gone when I was here and I was gone when you were here.” He shrugs and look back to the others. It isn’t like the paladins were always here either, they just decided to share the base after all. 

“I guess you are right.” He can hear the smile in the voice, he wonders if the familiarity comes from their little training session the other day. “Thought we could go for a second round soon.” 

Keith glances at the human, his skin is so pale. He wonders what he would look like if his human part would have taken over his galra one. He already feels excited at the idea of another fight with the leader of Voltron. However, the more he waits to answer the more he sees hesitation grows on his face.

“Ah, yes, whenever.” He glances at the time. “I mean, whenever I am here and you are here.”

At that Shiro sounds amused. “Like now?” The human looks back at his team, the shadow of a smile on his lips.

Keith follows where he is looking, noticing the weird glances they are getting from Pidge and Allura. The red paladin seems too busy to see them. “Yes, like now.” He turns around and starts walking toward their last fighting ground. “Want to…” Before he can finish what he is saying, Krolia turns a corner not so far away and walks directly to her son.

“I need you for a little something, now.” It isn’t truly a question, and Keith knows it well. She gives a suspicious look toward Shiro and nods to him in respect. “I am sorry if you had anything planned.”

She doesn’t truly sound apologetic, but that’s only Keith knowing because, well, he spends a lot of time with his mother. He sighs deeply. “Alright, I am following you.” Annoyed, he doesn’t even wave his goodbye to the black paladin and leaves the area before Krolia could follow him.

***

In the end, it seems that Krolia needed him for more than a little something. They ended both inside one of their fighting pods, heading toward a Galra cargo in which they have to retrieve some weapons so they don't end up given to the Galra army guarding a slaved planet they are trying to free.

Working as a team is something they do often, they are used to it and sometimes it's easier to understand family than other people. Well, at least it is the case for Keith.

As his mother had the control of the pod, he leans against the wall, Kosmo at the side of the woman. They didn't say a word since they left, except for the explanation of their current mission and the plan they needed to proceed with. It isn't unlikely of them, however there is a weird tension in the air.

"So, you aren't going to say anything, right?" There is obvious annoyance in her voice, but she is also careful. Keith isn't sure if it does rub him off the wrong way or not.

"You did that on purpose, I heard Soviac says he was supposed to be the one going with you, not me?" He kinda finally snaps, implying this was again to bring him away from the paladins. And this is truly starting to get on his nerves. He is old enough to decide for himself.

She sighs loudly. "Listen, Keith..." Before Krolia can finish her sentence, something hits their ship hard enough for the man to almost fall forward, Kosmo moving fast enough to hold Keith back.

When he raises his eyes toward the desk, he notices they didn't even get close enough to the cargo to usually get spotted, which means. "There is something important onboard, we need to find it."

His mother nods as she starts avoiding the fire they are receiving from the enemy’s ships. “They are two, can you take care of it?” Their personal conversation is put on hold, and Keith nods before grabbing Kosmo.

“Let’s go, boy.”

It takes him five minutes top chrono to teleport in the others’ ships and fight off their pilots. Before he cuts the commands, he makes sure to analyse the instructions they have been receiving. It might be their lucky day, because it seems like they didn’t yet send any signals to the main base about any spy spaceship.

Soon enough, he is back in his own pod with Kosmo. His mother focuses on getting them out of the Empire’s reach. “Did they send off our location?”

“Not yet, you should activate the cloth that paladin put on our ships.” He leans above Krolia’s seat as she actually does as he said. Now under the cover of invisibility, they can head fast toward the large Empire cargoship.

“So what should I listen to?” He still asks, knowing they will soon have to try to sneak in or fight for their life. And by the security around the cargo, they can only expect a large amount of fighters in it.

Krolia sighs and gives him a look that tells it isn’t the time, however she still indulges him. “We don’t want you to get attached to them just because they are humans, Keith.”

It actually hurts him, in a weird way. “So, you are telling me, I can’t try to learn more about my own racial lineage, right? Because of what? If ever I get attached to one of them?” Weirdly enough, his thoughts go back to the leader of the paladins.

“Your human heritage does make you…” She seems to search her words, as they enter one of the open hangars of the cargo. Still under the invisible coverage, they manage to lend quite easily their ship. It is one of the most silent they have. As they move to actually get off to infiltrate and see what is going on on here, they don’t stop their conversation.

“Make me, what? More sensitive?” He hates all the time someone in the Blade actually told him something like that. It’s a mistake and a weakness to value the life of others.

They run silently toward the open door that leads to the corridor, they know that kind of ship by heart having studied it thoroughly. It is always somewhat dark there, red compared to their own purple lighting. Each time they get close to any type of guards, they keep their lips shut, hiding on the side or running in a direction they know safe.

It’s hard, obviously the security is tight here and the corridors are all similar. They need to keep a mental map of their position. “Yes, more sensitive. You get attached easily, Keith.” Krolia whispers to him, as they head for the room that seems the most guarded. There is probably a way by the roof, he thinks.

He points her the ventilation entrance, and they both grab Kosmo which teleports them into it. It’s a tight fit for the wolf, but they still manage to make it work. The walls of the tight passage smell like sweat and metal.

“Sure, says the one that fell in love on Earth with a human and had me.” As if his mother could talk about being too soft, he is sure his tendency to care doesn’t just come from his human side.

Even if she is behind him, he can feel her glare toward him. “You know we only want your well-being.”

Keith rolls his purple eyes at it, yes, sure, his well-being. He isn’t sure they truly always get what he really needs and what he doesn’t. He is also pretty sure you don’t send off to suicidal missions someone you want to actually protect, but you know, that would be unfair to tell that to his own mother. He knows she loves him.

They finally reach the hangar that is being over protected, from the ventilation entrance they can see a part of it. Weirdly enough, there is only one lonely ship. It doesn’t look like anything he has ever seen, it isn’t too big or obviously heavily armed, but there is a strange energy about it. “Do you know what this is?” The half galra glances behind him at his mother, which looks quite confused.

Krolia crawls forward beside him as they glances through the entrance that leads to the hangar. She seems to wonder deeply for a second, but then her eyes start to scan the rest of the room. "I never saw one like this, not even in my years infiltrated in their army." 

This is unexpected, his mother had left for a couple years and was in the section building new weapons. If she hadn't seen it or any of the plans, it means it was brand new and they hurried in building it.

"So, are we stealing it?" Keith himself scans the room, there are a lot of guards, but he might have a plan in mind. Plus, the weapons they had been informed about are probably this. The space wolf is glaring at him from behind, connected to it's partner's intention.

"What are you thinking?" She pats the blade at her waist, she always does when she feels a fight is about to explode.

"I'll get to the other side of the door, and try to get most guards out of the hangar. I'll drop you off to the control center right before and you make sure to seal the main accesses once most of them are out. I'll come back pick you off and then we head straight into the ship." Honestly, he doesn't know how they might be able to pilot it in such a short deadline, but if it's the same as most Galra ship, the highest level of security they will encounter will only ask for their blood to make it work.

There is hesitation for a moment crossing Krolia's features, but she nods. Kosmo gets closer to them and she smiles at him. "I don't know what we were doing without you."

Keith must admit that his partner had been more than useful in all of their infiltrations, he feels proud and respectful toward Kosmo, their bound strong enough for them to understand each other. "Let's go, buddy."

They disappear in a second, reappearing in the control cabin. Keith doesn't waste a minute to analyse the situation, knowing his mother will be able to manage whatever is in there.

As soon as he reappears on the other side of the huge hangar door, he has to move fast. His blade out and playing a game of disappearing and reappearing. The large door opens and let more guards out of the hangar making it hard for him to hold them all off. Once the door closes back, and the light of it's accessibility turns red, Keith doesn’t waste a second to grab Kosmo which teleports them back to Krolia.

His mother turns around ready to fight, but soon relaxes a bit when she sees him. "We need to hurry, they are already trying to hack back into the system and could open the door at any time." As soon as she reaches them, Keith focuses on the cockpit of the special spaceship and in a second they are in it.

It seems fairly similar to what they are used to in some of their medium sized ships, and Krolia takes the lead to the controls. "Try to search for any tracking devices, we need to make sure we can bring it back."

Keith swings into action without hesitation. As he searches, the half human soon feels the ship getting alive under his feet. The only device that seems to have a tracker on ends up cut through by his weapon.

When he goes back in the cockpit, they manage to escape the cargo before the other door opens back. The fire coming from the guards still on the deck is not very effective against the obvious strong complexion of this space ship.

"Guess we will pilot this baby around for some days." Krolia says as Keith takes one of the seats available near one of the consoles. They can't go straight back to their base, this would be too risky.

However he knows what he will do when they come back. Might imply his mother and Kolivan throwing a fit.

***

After a few days out, and some more tracking devices neutralized, it became clear to them that nobody was going to come after them now that they had no way to find them. This ship had some advanced technology Keith and Krolia couldn't even completely figure out, but it seemed like they at least figured out most of the tracking materials.

Once they got back to their main base, all of their scientists took it out of their hands, completely fascinated by it. The green paladin also joined them, confirming to Keith their presence at the base.

The first thing the Blade member treated himself to is a shower and some good sleep. The crease under his eyes deep and dark, it doesn’t take him long to reach his bed and turn off the light. 

When he wakes up again it is late in the afternoon, the same day afternoon or the next day afternoon he isn’t sure, but he doesn’t truly mind. Kosmo seems dead beside the bed, drool sliding down his fur. They did ask him a lot and they never truly slept when coming back with the unfamiliar new ship. 

Slowly, Keith sits up in his bed, white sheets sliding down his skin. With sleepy eyes he reaches out for his communication device and once it is turned on he slides through the updates they always receive each day. There is nothing that seems to concern him, except for the fact that they don’t seem to manage to make the ship work again. Weird.

As he moves to get up, the sweat on his skin makes him want to take another shower, but since he did just before going to bed, Keith decides against it. Once he is dressed in his Blade uniform, the fabric sticking to his skin, he finally heads out, ready to go eat some food. His stomach had been making a ruckus since he opened his eyes. 

As he walks into the improvised cafeteria, the half Galra is surprised to see three of the paladins eating in one of the corners. They almost never eat at the same time as the Blade members or stay in their Castle of Lions.  
With that thought, Keith glances at the clock and actually realises that it is indeed out of the normal eating hours, the many tables around are also mostly empty, which also mean… 

“Perfect.” The corner of his mouth goes up as he walks to go get some sandwiches and after taking a deep breath he goes straight for the members of Voltron’s table. Without a warning he sits down beside Shiro and ignores the incredulous look on Pidge and Hunk’s faces. 

As he unwraps one of his sandwiches from it’s wrapping, Keith searches back for Kolivan sitting further away with some important members. He stares at him long enough for the Galra to look back at him and frown, he won’t say anything, not in front of the actual paladins, but Keith is glad enough that he sees him sitting with them. 

“I heard you didn’t eat in some days.” Shiro’s voice distract Keith from his staring contest and he snaps his head back toward the paladin. “From the members taking care of the ship.” He add quickly.

“Ah, yeah.” Their bags with some provision had stayed in their own pod since they didn’t expect to have to steal another spaceship in the process. Krolia and himself went without eating for the days they have been out making sure it was safe to come back. He eyes his five sandwiches, yeah, he is hungry. “It happens sometimes.” 

Shiro seems to want to say something else as Keith finally bites down in his food. The salty taste is way better than what he is used to, which proves how hungry he feels. However, it’s Pidge that cuts him before he can talk. “How did you manage to make the ship works?” She pushes her glasses up her nose as she looks suspiciously to the Blade member. 

“Krolia did it at first, I took the relay at some point.” He frowns, wondering why they couldn’t make it work anymore. “We had to place our hands on the controls, and… I don’t know it worked. Why not ask her?” After all, his mother was the first one to use it. 

“She had to leave this morning, she is the last one that managed to make it work.” It seems to annoy the green paladin to not be able to understand something.

“Pidge, maybe you could let Keith eat.” The black paladin says as he places his hand made of flesh on his shoulder. 

Keith looks at almost finished brownish sandwich in his hands and thinks that it doesn’t hold him back from eating much. However, he freezes for a second and stares at Shiro. “How do you know my name?” It might not be the most important question at the moment, but he does want to know.

It obviously takes Shiro by surprise. “Oh, they mentioned it when showing us the Galra ship.” 

“Ah.” The half human looks back at his second now unwrapped sandwich and starts eating it. Between a few bites, something comes up in his mind about the ship. “Did anyone mention anything about a weird aura coming from the ship that feels like… it sinks into us?” 

They then all stare at him as if he was a ghost. “What?” 

Shiro glances toward Pidge but then seems to decide to answer by himself. “They did talk about a weird type of quintessence in it…” He hesitate for a second. “A bit like our lions, less strong though.”

Keith unwraps his third sandwich and regrets to see the flavor of it, he really hates this sweet one. He does see the yellow paladin look at it from his spot though. “Here.” He gives it to Hunk before turning back to Shiro and opening his fourth sandwich. “So, are they trying to recreate your lions since they keep failing at getting them?” 

“Most probably. However, this one doesn’t seem to be as advanced as ours,” answers the green paladin. 

“Yeah, like, less magical. It doesn’t seem to talk into anyone’s head.” Says Hunk as he finishes his own food. And to this he receive an annoyed glance from Pidge.

“I doubt they will be able to find as much quintessence as they had for Voltron, or a meteorite holding such power.” Adds Shiro, his two hands now sitting on the dark grey table. Keith still feels the heat that his hand left on his shoulder. “Unfortunately, Zarkon likes to prove me wrong.” Then the man raises his eyes and nods his head to someone behind the half Galra.

Keith doesn’t have to look to know who it is, and he pays it no mind. 

“We will need you in the hangar number 4.” Says Kolivan’s stern voice behind him. 

Usually he would get up and go on with what is asked out of him to prove he can be a good and useful member. But for now he is still annoyed at their leader. “I have one sandwich left.” Without raising his eyes he starts unwrapping the last piece of his meal. He knows the other will probably not do anything in front of the paladins, once more.

However, Keith is surprised when it’s Shiro’s voice that answers. “I heard we should go see too, I’ll bring him with us once we are done eating.” There is nothing left in his plate, he has been done eating since a little while now. 

It takes a minute before Kolivan finally briefly agrees and leaves the room. 

“He is scary, actually.” Hunk adds as he stares to Keith, which is just eating his last part of the bread and juicy condiment.

“He isn’t that bad.” The half human says as he shrugs, ignoring Shiro’s questioning look on him.

Nobody needs to know he will get screamed at later.

***

It ends up being just the two of them walking toward the hangar. Hunk and Pidge left five minutes before them so they could go see if Allura and Lance were back from whatever business they had on a close planet. 

It’s silence at first. They get through the corridors side by side, their steps in synch. Keith isn’t sure what he is supposed to be talking about, tactical stuff?

“I…” 

“You…”

They both look at each other in surprise at their synchronized attempt to start a conversation. The half Galra can’t help but reflect the smile on Shiro’s lips, this is quite funny.

“You were saying?” Keith offers, still kind of smiling as he returns his eyes to the direction they are going in.

It takes Shiro a minute to find back his words. “You don’t have that... “ He hesitates. “Wolf, with you? I mean, I don’t know if it is a wolf here though.” He scratches the back of his neck. “Some animals seem to be the same and others not. Like they know lions but they didn’t know what a cow was.”

Keith looks at him amused by the obvious type of despair animating the other. “Ah yeah, it’s a wolf actually, he is called Kosmo.” As they reach the doors to the hangar, he almost wants to stop walking so they can continue to talk, no matter how awkward it feels. “Well, I was waiting for him to tell me his name, but my fellow blades thought it was stupid.” He deadpans. 

He is surprised by the sound of Shiro’s laughter. “You were waiting for him to tell you his name?”

Keith just rolls his eyes and walks in the hangar. “Whatever.”

Anyway, they have other stuff to attend. Like, how to make this ship works again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to specify that this is mostly unbetaed, so I hope there weren't too many mistakes orz. Also, don't worry, now that the story is taking place, more sheith moments are coming your way! If you liked it, don't hesitate to tell me or leave me a kudos ^^ See ya ~
> 
> Twitter: @Shikhyth


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